Time for you to do a little writing yourself:
This week I am taking a departure from my usual newsletter article and instead am posing a few questions for to you ponder about your relationship with eating.
If you would like to really take advantage of this opportunity, I suggest that each of you take the 10-20 minutes or so that you would normally take to read one of my articles and instead jot down some notes about what automatically comes to mind when you reflect on the questions below.
You’ll learn the most about yourself and your needs if you do this in two distinct stages.

Your first quick read of each question will naturally prompt some Drill Sgt. comments, something about you or your life or the world or me that has the potential to shut you or this process down in that moment. Write that thought down as soon as it arises. Don’t think about it. Don’t try and soften it or change it from how it initially popped into your head. Don’t worry about how unenlightened it is, and don’t get caught in asking if you’re doing it right. If you’re writing down what first popped into your head when you read the question, you’re doing it right.

Then, once you’ve read and responded with your immediate responses to each question, read the questions over again and answer them once more. These answers will most likely be coming from your rational, adult brain and be significantly different from your initial ones. But you give it a try and see. Again, write out the answers as they come to you, don’t try and make them sound a certain way. Don’t get caught in what you think you “should” answer. Just be real with yourself about what you think and feel.

Now just write a little bit about the differences you noticed between the answers first time around and the second time. What do your answers tell you about yourself? How can you use this information to support yourself towards your goal of a life of confidence, security and of freedom from food and body image stress?

Questions for You:
1. What do you think the world would be like if we all committed to quit trying to be better than so and so at such and such, and instead just committed ourselves to being a better person today than we were yesterday?
2. What would happen in your world today, and overall, if you did this each day?
3. What if we all let go of trying to be liked by so and so and instead just focused our efforts on liking ourselves a little more each day? In other words, what would the world be like if we all began seeing ourselves the way we wish others would see us?
4. What would your life be like today, and for your future, if you challenged yourself to see yourself the way you wish others would see you?
5. What do you think you would feel at the end of a day spent looking for opportunities to grow and demonstrate your love and caring to yourself and others just a little more than yesterday? How would that feeling compare to how you typically feel at the end of a day now?
That’s it for the exercise. As I suggested, write out your immediate answers with no censoring. Then re-read the questions and answer them again. See the difference in your answers and also, make a note of how you feel in response to the first thought, vs. how you feel in response to the second.
Please, if you’re at all open to doing so, I ask you to share your answers with me so I can share some of them in our next newsletter. This is incredibly rich information you are gathering. You’ll discover so much about yourself and your world just from letting yourself explore these questions for a few minutes. And in reading each other’s sharing next week, you’ll get the gift of seeing how many of us think and feel just as you do.
So, let’s create a dialogue about these pieces as they are fabulous entry points for you to look clearly and simply at your old beliefs and all-or-nothing thinking. I’ll be offering thoughts and feedback and pulling out some key pieces from your sharing in our next newsletter to help ensure you get the most benefit from this exercise. So dig in!
Freedom from food and body image stress is so incredibly doable. We have helped so many men and women to free themselves completely from the shame and fatigue of using food to cope. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or overeating, or whether you just find yourself overwhelmed with food or frustrated with your weight, it’s all coming from the same place, and that means the same, simple solution works for all of those harmful ways of coping with life.
If you’d like to take the next step and begin to receive support, just email me @ mmorand@cedriccentre.com and we’ll get you started!
I am very excited to read what you come up with.
Love

Drill Sergent
1)Dont be so stupid, you cant do that, you will FAIL FAIL FAIL
2) Life would be happier, but its IMPOSSIBLE, stupid
3) It would be wonderful, but that is not real life
4) umm, too hard, too impossible
5)Im always caring about others, it gets me no where, I still feel like shit.
Adult (maybe)
1)A better person would be me, taking care of others, being the best person I can, so that they would be proud of me.
2) If I could be a better person, I would be thin and positive, helpful, not greedy or hopeless with money.
3) I think life would be so much happier. Howvever. I dont think I have ever really thought about how I would like others to see me. In consideration I would want to be seen as slim, pretty, intelligent, helpful, pragmatic, calm, attractive, desirable, careful, reliable,
4) life would be brilliant, although…I think I have left it a bit late.
5) Its hard to know, but a good deal better!!!

First Reading
1. Boring – nobody would go anywhere or achieve anything
2. I would become a lazy slug with no stimulators, successes or drivers. I’d be fat and yuck
3. You’d spend a lot of time trying to be like what is reasonable for people to think of you as
4. It would be more relaxing
5. Really good! I would feel satisfied instead of gearing up for tomorrow

Second Reading
1. A little more harmony in the world; no tension to beat someone else just for your security
2. M priorities would change and I’d have a different (maybe clearer) view of my desires
3. Growth from the inside; you could do/be anything! Yahoo!
4. More relaxed; much more relaxed. Enjoyable. Authentic.
5. Optimistic instead of defensive/unwinding from fatigue

Review
My first understanding of a question is the Drill Sgts’ defensiveness; it is a reaction more than an understanding.
I can acknowledge that first reaction and then come back again. Exactly what I do when I use the tools: the Drill Sgt Dialogue and the List of Stressors.